A word of caution. The seller describes the vinyl as “near mint”, and judging from the picture I don’t think that it is, although it still looks OK for a 31 year old record, I wouldn’t call it “near mint”.

Keith Bennetts Deathwish Movers TV show may have been (sadly) canceled, but you can pick up this cassette add it to your collection of Wrecking Crew & Bitter stuff! My favorite Keith Bennett quote…. (while talking about himself) “They will think this guy Looks like Hetfield, plays like Cliff & talks like Lars”

Here’s a fun example of how a couple of bands from complete opposite ends of the hardcore spectrum ape the ol’ Dis-sounds. Last Rights go the “Protest and Survive” route, while the Shit Lickers go for tuneless “Why”-esque bashing. Who’d have thunk that Boston’s most notorious sxe hardmen and some Swedish gutter drunks would be mining the same Stoke-On-Trent influences? It’s kind of like how Victim In Pain and Crucifix’s Dehumanization are essentially the same record (but no one realizes it).

Collapse were a NYHC band that existed for a very brief period of time, and are perhaps best known for their track on the New Breed compilation. This posthumous ep has that track plus one other studio cut, backed with two live songs. The tunes kind of remind me of early Quicksand, but much harder. A great lost record.

Copout are another great and highly underrated band, sort of a precursor to Talk Is Poison. Good ol’ fashioned thrashy hardcore was a rare bird at the time this was released, and I REALLY wish I got to see these guys live. First press here on black vinyl (2nd is red). Hopefully their discography LP on Prank will see the light of day at some point.

Crow are one of the rare instances in hardcore where a band gets better and better with each release. Their early 80s stuff was sort of generic Discharge style, but by the time they released this Death Of Nuclear Arms ep in the later 90s, they were “going metal” in the best way possible. Their new stuff sounds like Marauder covering Discharge, so sick.

And last but not least, Citizens Arrest’s debut ep from 1990. One of the best of all time, let alone the era. I’m pretty amped for the reunion show they’re doing in December, one of the few reunion shows I’m actually excited is happening.

Riistetyt are one of the best known Finnish hardcore bands, along with Rattus, Terveet Kadet and Kaaos. I believe they are the only early Finnish band to have ever made it to the USA back in the day, as TK’s American tour never came to fruition and Kaaos were probably passed out drunk in a gutter somewhere in Tampere. Their first couple of singles are some of the best and rarest Finnish records, but surprisingly for such small press records they got good distribution to other countries thanks to their label, P. Tuotanto, run by all-around nice guy Vote Vasko, who did a LOT to spread the gospel of Finnish punk in the 80s (and who I have been buying records off of for years, still to this day).

Their first release was a split 7″ with Kaaos, but they were known at the time as Cadgers. They soon changed their name to Riistetyt, which is Finnish for Exploited. Very original, huh? Anyways, there are several pressings of this record, but this copy up for grabs is the highly elusive first press, of which there are only 200 made. The 2nd pressing has slightly different Kaaos art, and subsequent presses were made with completely different art in much higher quantity. Regardless, this first press NEVER turns up.

After the split, they released their first proper record with their new name, the Laki Ja Järjestys ep, also released by P. Tuotanto. This one’s an absolute paint peeler — piss raw hardcore in the Discharge tradition with throat shredding vocals. According to an old ebay listing of Vote’s, only 197 were made (thus making it rarer than Fix Vengance, lol). I believe this one was recently reissued with the original art, but this guy here is the original so get that checkbook ready.

NIghtmare s/t ep on Selfish Records
Nightmare are probably my 2nd favorite “traditional” Japanese hc band, second only to Bastard. This is their first ep, released on the mighty Selfish Records in 1988. Seven tracks of blazing hardcore that the Japanese really perfected around this time, and which hasn’t been equaled much over the years — take equal parts Poison Idea, Motörhead and Discharge, and throw it in a blender with some hot guitar leads, and you’ll start to get the idea. Sort of like the Cro-Mags if you replaced Poison Idea with the Bad Brains.

This one’s a very reasonable BIN price from an American seller, so get on it.

And here we have one of the all-time high points of Japanese hardcore, Bastard’s Wind of Pain LP, released on Bloodsucker Records in 1990. Some people like to call this LP “the Japanese Age of Quarrel”, but I just like to think of it as one of the best hardcore records of all time. I had the pleasure of seeing these guys last year and it was one of the best live sets I’ve ever witnessed, they nailed every song they played and sounded incredible.

BIN price is a little high on this, but I like buying records from Japanese sellers because they’re always in top condition (ie, worth the extra $).

Rudimentary Peni – first 7″ – one of my top 5 favorite bands ever, though this is my 2nd favorite record by them (Farce 7″ being #1). I was blown away the first time I heard this band in the early 90s, when an older friend played it for me. Short, to-the-point blasts of neurotic punk that could only be made by a legitimate lunatic like Nick Blinko. First press here with the booklet, which is full of Nick’s incredible artwork.

Iconic artwork, “Two Monstrous Nuclear Stockpiles” on the flip, and it’s Discharge. Chaos non musica.

4-Skins with Hodges? ‘Nuff said.

Got into this band when I saw them playing “Moped Lads” off of some UK punk/oi video comp back in the early 90s. They released a lot of garbage but these early singles and the first LP are all-time classics.

SVART FRAMTID’s debut ep is probably the most well-known Norwegian record, a six-track hardcore shredder.

On the same label as Svart Framtid, BANNLYST’s ep is a little thrashier, and maybe my favorite record from the country. Recently booted, but this is the real deal for sale.

V/A Ingenting For Norge – probably the rarest of the bunch, this one never turns up even though it’s claimed to be 1,000 pressed. It’s a 4-way split, and honestly I have never heard the 3 other bands, but everyone wants this for the Fader War tracks, which are lo-fi Discharge-style stupidity. Personally I think they’re a bit overrated, but rare = expensive so start bidding.